These plaques honor the 1991, 1999 and 2000 Marysville High School playoff teams, MHS graduates Chase Blackburn and Steve Devine (who were affiliated with two New York Giants Super Bowl championship teams) and various volunteers. New plaques will honor the unbeaten MHS gridiron squads of 1953 and 1957.
(Photo submitted)
—-Marysville’s 1953 football team is pictured from left, front row, manager Joe Elk, Larry Coder, Ed Nicol, Don LeMaster, Dick Bump, Ronnie Magsig, Richard Miller, John DeGood, Dick Orahood, Richard Shearer, Dale Dasher, Rusty Swanson, Larry Stump, Larry Easton and John Fox; second row, coach Don McKillip, Larry Fox, Dwight Shulter, George Haggard, Jim Barnhart, Jim Lumberson, Richard Hagenlocker, Joe Stieger, Don Worstell, Conrad Navin, Pearl Paver, Ronnie Peoples, Bob Browning, Howard Payne and coach Bob Lewis; back row, Junior Fleck, David Bumgarner, Bob Scheiderer, Bill Fuson, Jerry Fleming, Dale Smith, Jim Bradley, Max Lowe, Bob Geissler, Bill Sewell, Eugene Mayer, Eddie George and Bob Orahood. Not pictured, Jerry Beasecker.
(File photo)
—-Marysville High School has honored some of its better football teams that played in recent memory.
Plaques honoring the 1991, 1999 and 2000 state playoff squads were placed at the stadium within the past decade.
Monarch sports historian Tim Davidson has spearheaded a project that will recognize two additional MHS gridiron teams.
The 1953 and 1957 Monarchs both went undefeated during their respective seasons and Davidson felt recognition was long overdue.
“We need to recognize the older teams that played football before Marysville began to play at the current stadium in 1972,” he said. “No one remembers the teams that played at Memorial Field (which is a part of Lewis Field, located along Collins Avenue).
The Monarch Quarterback Club funded the plaques for the 1991, 1999 and 2000 squads that were put in place sometime between 2008 and 2011, according to Davidson.
The names of all players, coaches and managers are included on those plaques.
They will soon be joined by plaques honoring the 1953 and 1957 squads.
“The plaques have been ordered,” Davidson said on Wednesday.
The 1977 MHS graduate said he received support for the project from current Monarch head coach Brent Johnson.
“Coach Johnson said, ‘Tim, we will do this,’” said Davidson.
The 1991 Monarchs ( 11-2) were the first MHS grid squad to earn a state playoff berth.
They lost to Fostoria in the state semifinals.
The 1999 team (11-1) fell to Sylvania Southview in the playoffs, while the 2000 squad (13-1) dropped a decision to Piqua in the state semifinals.
The 1953 team was coached by Robert Lewis and finished the season with a 9-0 record. It was the first unbeaten MHS football squad since 1927.
The Monarchs yielded just 46 points while posting four shutouts.
The offense was just as strong, scoring 161 points.
Gridders who earned Mid-Six League honors were as follows:
First team
-John Fox, Dick Orahood, Larry Stump, Richard Shearer, Ronnie Magsig and Dick Bump;
Honorable mention
-John DeGood, Dale Dasher, Don LeMaster, Larry Easton, Jerry Beasecker and Richard Miller.
The 1957 Monarchs, coached by Milton McKillip, were part of a huge turnaround from the previous season.
MHS limped to a 2-6-1 record in 1956, but rebounded to go 8-0 the following campaign.
If the 1953 team was strong on defense, its brethren four years later were even more unyielding.
Opposing squads managed just 14 points, seven of which came as the result of a kickoff return.
“The defense gave up only seven points all year,” said Davidson of the team that blanked six opponents.
Running back Ronnie Fox earned third-team All-Ohio honors.
League honors that season went to the following players:
First team
-Fox, Ronnie Price, Herbert Ross, Ronnie Sabins, Jim Burson, Jerry Yoakum and Charles Nowlin;
Honorable mention
-Bob Orahood, Mike Rupright, Ronald Simpson, Phil Crabbe and Ed LeMaster.